When is Hug a Ginger Day? Ginger Awareness Day?

When is Hug a Ginger Day? Ginger Awareness Day?

Redhead Counter-movement is Passionate but not Unified

In my past blog, I noted how despite growing redhead movements and events, the worldwide community of redheads is still quite scattered. Word has barely gotten around about a new redhead scholarship. Roodharigendag / Redhead Day in the Netherlands has attracted thousands of redheads from countries around the globe, but your average redhead on the street probably hasn't heard of it - depite media coverage. And those few who are familiar with Roodharigendag probably have not heard of previous redhead festivals in Russia or elsewhere. I was even surprised myself by finding remarks of redhead conventions as far back as the 80's.

Recent blogs and passionte comment threads on the Gingerism blog demonstrate there are many differing opinions on even what gingerism or "redism" is. Is it racism? Is "ginger" itself a deragatory word? There's apparently quite a bit to discuss in that regard, but I'll save that for another article. I want to focus on simply bringing together all redheads to the same table first.

Redhead World has been hit by search queries asking "when is 'Hug a Ginger Day' 2010"? Sadly, we've gotten queries still searching for "when is 'Kick a Ginger Day'"? If you're not already familiar with "Kick a Ginger Day," it's a day originating in Canada on a Facebook group in 2008 (video news coverage of original 2008 International Kick a Ginger Day). November 20 was picked as a day to kick anyone with red hair. The inspiration comes from the "Ginger Kids" episode of "South Park" by completely ignoring the very moral the episode teaches. A brave redhead took over the Facebook group and converted it to "Hug a Ginger Day," a day to celebrate people with ginger hair, rather than kick them.

UniversalMultiversal Hug a Ginger Day - November 20

The Hug a Ginger Day group as discussed in the previous Hug a Ginger Day blog took over the November 20 day in a straightforward way. It seemed a good way to turn a negative into a positive, and the group gained over 1,500 members. There was also significant media coverage in 2009 after the beatings, arrests, and harassment that took place that day. Redhead World reported on it as well.

Redhead Festivals as Redhead Awareness Day?

The big redhead festivals can't be forgotten in a discussion of redhead awareness days. After all, the biggest to date, Roodharigendag, means "Redhead Day" in English and showcases a lot of redhead love. This gathering having grown to 2,000+ redheads per year from the first celebration of the first weekend in September started in 2005. Then there is the other September of the Udmurt people of Russia, "Рыжий фестиваль" - the "Red Festival" or "Redhead Festival." The annual festival in Izhevsk has been held since 2004 among the ethnic group who may counter the Scots' claim of "most redheaded people in the world."

But these festivals are perhaps left best as big celebrations of redheadedness. Roodharigendag is a weekend festival too, and school students - who are feeling the brunt of Kick a Ginger Day - can't raise awareness on a non-school day. Though Roodharigendag has reportedly been listed on some calendars in the Netherlands, so maybe the Friday before or Monday after could be celebrated in school?

When is Hug a Ginger Day 2010?

So with 2010 already well under way, I think the redhead community needs to decide on a day. Perhaps each country will have their own day to focus on, but the events of Kick a Ginger Day were felt beyond Canada and the U.S. in 2009, so an international day might be observed. In terms of raw media coverage and Facebook support, it would appear December 8 has the largest following already. As I can't follow non-English sources as closely, do you know of any other redhead awareness days? What do you think should be the day?